Three weeks before practices for the 2022-23 season begin in earnest, the Big East released the conference schedule on Friday morning. For Creighton, it sets up (on paper) as one of the more favorable slates since they joined the league. Here’s some first-glance thoughts before we dive into the entire schedule:
- The schedule follows a regular Tuesday/Wednesday/Saturday rhythm for the entire months of January and February. After the first three games, all of which are in odd time slots made for TV, there’s no Friday or Sunday games to wreck havoc on game prep for the following opponent.
- Four of the 10 home conference games are on a Saturday (Providence, Xavier, Villanova, and Connecticut). The Villanova and UConn tilts will be televised on network FOX and the Xavier game on network CBS — the latter being noteworthy because it’s the first time that’s happened in the Big East era.
- There’s only two back-to-back road games. Last year, they had three such road trips, going 2-4 in those six games and losing the second game of all three trips. They had four back-to-back road games in 2020-21, though COVID had a role in that. Getting back to a more manageable travel schedule is a welcome sight.
- The first of those trips is a doozy, though: at UConn on January 7 and at Xavier on January 11.
- The trip to Villanova in late February is at Wells Fargo Center, where they’ve traditionally played well, instead of the on-campus Finneran Pavilion, where they’ve not. No, really: Creighton is 2-10 all-time at Villanova, with both wins (2014 and 2020) coming at the WFC. The losses at the Pavilion have often been ugly, including last year’s 75-41 blowout.
- They open on a Friday at Marquette and then play two home games in four days in late December, drawing Butler on the 22nd and DePaul for the previously-announced Christmas Day game.
- And they end the season with a pair of games against teams expected to be at the bottom of the standings. Georgetown wraps up the home slate on March 1 and then a road game — on a weekend! — at DePaul.
Following their two games in Las Vegas against BYU on Saturday, December 10 and Arizona State on December 12, CU will make a short layover in Milwaukee on the way back to campus, opening Big East play on Friday the 16th against Marquette. The Golden Eagles are in a bit of a transition period in Shaka Smart’s second year, with star freshman Justin Lewis off to the NBA Draft and Darryl Morsell graduating. They return a slew of talented sophomores in guards Kam Jones, Tyler Kolek, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper, as well as Oso Ighodaro, and will be depending on those players to take big steps forward as they look to return to the NCAA Tournament.
Then it’s a pair of home games to close out the calendar year, both against teams expected to finish near the bottom of the standings. CU’s first look at the Thad Matta-coached Butler Bulldogs comes on December 22 and the perennially-rebuilding DePaul Blue Demons on Christmas Day. DePaul managed to climb out of the cellar a year ago, finishing 15-16 in Tony Stubblefield’s first year on the bench, but the top three scorers from that team have moved on, including Javon Freeman-Liberty. There’s some intriguing newcomers — highlighted by former Oklahoma guard Umoja Gibson and four-star shooting guard Zion Cruz — but it seems like another tough year ahead for the Blue Demons. That means the big question around this game might be whether Nike rolls out a new uniform set for the occasion.
CU’s new Executive Associate AD for External Communications, Jason Baum, hinted that they were exploring throwback uniforms with Nike last month. If it happens, following in the NBA’s footsteps by unveiling their own alternate/retro uni for Christmas Day makes a lot of sense.
After returning from the holidays, CU hosts Seton Hall on January 3. The Pirates are almost unrecognizable from a year ago, with head coach Kevin Willard off to Maryland and Jared Rhoden, Myles Cale, and Bryce Aiken off to play elsewhere. New coach Shaheen Holloway took 15-seed Saint Peter’s to the Elite Eight, and used the transfer portal to bolster his alma mater: former Pittsburgh guard Femi Odukale, former Clemson guard (and Newark native) Al-Amir Dawes, and big man KC Ndefo who played for him at Saint Peter’s. They’re widely predicted to finish somewhere in the middle of the pack in the league.
A road trip to Connecticut (January 7) and Xavier (January 11) is likely to be an early-season test, with both programs expected to be near the top of the league. It’s a reload situation for Dan Hurley, as UConn returns Adama Sanogo, Andre Jackson and Jordan Hawkins from their 23-win NCAA Tourney team a year ago, and adds Nahiem Alleyne from Virginia Tech, Tristen Newton from East Carolina, and Hassan Diarrra from Texas A&M plus 4-star center Donovan Clingan. For Xavier, it’s a trip back in time — after a late-season collapse they fired Travis Steele and subsequently won the NIT, then lured former coach Sean Miller back to Cincinnati. A lot of key pieces from that team return, including Jack Nunge, Zach Freemantle, and Adam Kunkel. Miller promptly signed a pair of 4-star guards in Kam Craft and Desmond Claude, too.
Followed up with a home game against defending champion Providence on January 14 and a road game at a venue they never play well at — Hinkle Fieldhouse on January 17 — the Jays will be glad that their bye week follows that stretch. Providence loses stars Nate Watson and Al Durham from their Sweet 16 club, but replaces them with former Florida and Louisville guard Noah Locke, former South Carolina guard Devin Carter, former La Salle big man Clifton Moore, and former Kentucky forward Bryce Hopkins. Ed Cooley’s team looks to be reloading, not rebuilding, too.
Home games against St. John’s and Xavier end the month of January. The Red Storm have to replace Julian Champagnie and his 19.2 points per game, but return both Posh Alexander and Dylan Addae-Wusu and add former DePaul forward David Jones and former Illinois guard (and Queens native) Andre Curbelo.
After a road game at Georgetown, the Jays get their first look at the post-Jay Wright era of Villanova basketball when the Wildcats come to Omaha on February 4. Wright’s abrupt departure was followed by an equally abrupt hiring of former assistant Kyle Neptune to take his place last April. Neptune’s first team returns three key pieces from last year’s Final Four run in Caleb Daniels, Eric Dixon and Brandon Slater. And he added a pair of Top-50 recruits in 5-star Cam Whitmore and 4-star Mark Armstrong. It’s tempting to think they’ll just keep chugging along, and they’ll certainly be among the favorites in the league, but the losses of Collin Gillespie, Justin Moore and Jermaine Samuels are significant.
Then it’s another brutal stretch, with a home game against UConn sandwiched between road games at Seton Hall and Providence. They’ll stay out east to play St. John’s before the final four games of the regular season, which set up nicely for a team expected to be in contention for a title.
Marquette visits Omaha on the 21st, followed by a road game in Philly against Villanova. And the regular season wraps up with games against two teams expected to finish near the bottom of the standings, in Georgetown and DePaul. It’s the finale in Chicago that really jumps off the page, though. The Jays’ closest road trip has only fallen on a weekend three times in nine years since joining the Big East. One of them was a Sunday afternoon, and one of them was in an empty arena in the COVID winter of 2021. So this year’s game on Saturday, March 4 will be just the second time that a fanbase known for traveling well — and with a large alumni base in the Chicagoland area — will be able to enjoy a Saturday game at DePaul. CU fans took over the arena the only other time it happened, a 93-58 blowout win in 2017.
From a television standpoint, things look the same as past years. Every game is on a linear channel (FS1, FS2, CBSSN) or network (FOX or CBS) with one exception. The opening night game is once again live look-in coverage on FS1, whipping between eight games. Full game telecasts of those eight games will be on the FOX Sports app.
The Nebraska game on December 4 now has a time (3:30pm) and TV (FS1). Both neutral court games in Las Vegas (BYU and Arizona State) have also been picked up by FS1, with the Saturday, December 10 game getting a 9:00pm Omaha time tip.
Then there’s the matter of all the network exposure this team will get. At least six games will air on network TV (home games with DePaul, Villanova, and UConn, plus road games at UConn and Villanova on FOX, and the home game against Xavier on CBS).